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Rotary Club La Molina brought us
to see their project of installing water filters to outlying
communities. We arrived at a settlement about 30 minutes outside
of Lima, called Ņaņa. There are about 50 individual homes lining
the banks of the Rimac River. The houses are pre-manufactured
and look to be made of wood paneling. Each lot is 6 x 8 meters.
The water filters -- called
BioArena (or BioSand) -- are designed for easy use. They require
very little maintenance. They are a concrete box, about two and
a half feet tall, and contain three layers of sand. They hold 20
liters of water at a time, and as the water filters through the
layers of sand, it comes out of a spigot and can be used
immediately for drinking. The main component of this filter is a
plastic panel that lays atop the sand. This panel has small
holes in it for the water to pass through, but it collects the
biological matter (parasites, coliforms, etc) which in turn
forms a sort of crust. The microorganisms that are trapped above
the sand then help to eat the subsequent incoming
microorganisms.
Since these filters have been
installed in this community, 90% of the stomach maladies have
disappeared. Maria, who is a resident of Ņaņa, and
the designated community leader who does the local organizing of
the installation of the filters, gives community workshops so
that people can learn about the importance of hygiene and its
connection with overall health, the environment, and water.
Ņaņa is facing the challenge now
of not having proper latrines. Although people have clean water
to drink, they dont have any sewage system in place, so people's
bathrooms are essentially outhouses perched on the bank of
the river. Human waste goes directly into the river. Rotary is
planning next to help the community install compost toilets.
We visited a cooperative organic
garden where about 15 farmers are participating to grow fruits
and vegetables without chemicals. They are working together to
try to expand the market for organic produce.
After the organic garden, we
visited a few other areas that are being considered for the
installation of water filters. We rode on the bumpy bus through
miles of unpaved roads to arrive at one community which was
particularly sobering. Tiny brick houses covered the desert hill
baking in the sun. Wind blew dust around and it seemed like
there was no one living in these homes. But people slowly began
to come out of their houses and down the hill towards us until
we had a group gathered around us, everyone curious to hear
about the potential project to improve water conditions. It is
difficult to describe the impact of simply standing in the
middle of this neighborhood which lacks the most basic of
necessities. It has an element of going back in time, because it
seems hard to believe that any community of today could be so
impoverished in the face of the world's technological successes.
There was something about this day, seeing first-hand the extent
of how little some people have compared to others, that made us
realize the significance of cultural exchanges such as this. It
would be impossible to go back to previous perceptions of how
the world works.
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We spent the day with two members
of Rotary Club Lima Sunrise, which is South America's only
English-speaking club. One of the members is the principal of
the international school, El Colegio Euroamericano. The school
is located about an hour from central Lima, in the area of
Pachacamac. The campus is park-like and relaxing, a green oasis
in the midst of the dry desert environment that surrounds it.
The school serves kids of all ages, including even a program for
infants. The principal, Richard Matthews, gave us an in-depth
presentation of the philosophy of the school, whose mission is
to prepare students for success in a globalized world. The
school has an ecological and environmental focus, and those who
graduate from there receive the International Baccalaureate.
Students learn to think independently, to practice inquiry-based
learning, and to also work as part of a group. Classes are
taught in both Spanish and English. Most of the students come
from privileged backgrounds and are bused in from the more
affluent neighborhoods of Lima. It was a huge contrast to see
this school after having visited so many with limited resources
in the previous days. The location of El Colegio Euroamericano
is interesting because it is in the middle of a low-income area.
The school has a program where its older students invite kids
from the neighborhood to come on campus and play soccer and also
do academics. The integration of the local neighborhood with the
school gives students a real life example of what it means to be
"internationally minded": to think locally and independently but
with an awareness of the interdependence we have with people and
cultures outside of our own.
Riding back in the van to Lima, the
members of Lima Sunrise told anecdotes about expatriat living
and the many countries in which they had worked. It was
interesting to hear how each individual came to Lima, how they
have raised their children in other countries, and how in some
ways they feel more Peruvian than their nationality of origin.
For those of us in the GSE group, just starting out our careers,
being exposed to the possibilities of the type of work one can
do in another country is extremely fascinating.
We arrived at Rotary members Martin
and Dina's home in the neighborhood of Miraflores, where their
apartment has a view of the ocean and the malecon. We relaxed
with pisco sours and mini tuna sandwiches while a number of
other members of Lima Sunrise showed up with potluck items
including chocolate cake and wine. We also had the pleasure of
meeting participants of past GSE's. One person busted out a
guitar and we had a fine time singing Beatles songs and other
favorites. It was a lovely evening!
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Today was a free day for all of
us, free from uniforms and presentations. Kay, however, did
attend the Rotary Assembly, in which the incoming and
outgoing Rotary Club presidents were recognized. At the
Assembly, Kay attended a plenary session as well as a
workshop on how to put together a Rotary project.
In the evening, Kay met up with
Nicole and Elisabeth for their first bite of pizza in Peru.
They met in the popular neighborhood of Miraflores to seek
out the infamous "Pizza Street". It was a bustling Saturday
night, couples dancing to live music in the plaza, and
artists selling paintings on the sidewalk. There was also an
impressive outdoor photo exhibit made up of aerial photos
taken all over the world. The photos were depictions of
humanity and the environment, strong messages about the
potential future of our planet. Earlier in the day, Nicole
and Elisabeth strolled around the neighborhood of Barranco,
eating dessert and snapping photos. They walked a couple
miles along the malecon towards Miraflores, and after pizza,
enjoyed a movie at the theater in the Larcomar shopping mall
which is built into the cliffside that overlooks the ocean.
Osho spent his free day in the
central downtown of Lima. He witnessed a protest against the
perceived corruption in the government. Osho speculates that
the protesters were fighting for the rights of the people
who want their "piece of the pie" from a government that is
taking too much. Osho also explored an outdoor market of
vendors selling food and handicrafts. He ate ice cream and
pizza. In the evening he went with his host brother to the
district of San Juan where many nightclubs are clustered
together. They danced the night away to the sounds of cumbia,
salsa, and reggaeton. They also did some scientific pisco
tasting in which they had to guess which pisco was the best
quality (without knowing the brand). Osho got 3 out of 4
correct!
Amy's free day was with her
host family. They took her to Lima's Chinatown, and out to
lunch in the hills above downtown. Later they all attended
an extravagant 25th wedding anniversary in which the bride
and groom were dressed as if it was the wedding day itself.
It is now the halfway point of
our GSE four weeks. We are all changing host families for
the remainder of our time in Lima. Amy and Nicole are moving
to the Miraflores district (right in the heart of it all).
Elisabeth moves to Monterrico Surco, a quiet neighborhood
near a couple of universities. Kay is changing from the
middle of the bustling financial district to a quiet home in
the same neighborhood as Elisabeth. Kay is thrilled to be
living at a home with a couple who goes for a one-hour walk
every morning at 6:00. She loves to walk and will finally
get a chance to do so on a daily basis. Osho's first host
family has requested that he stay with them for the final
two weeks. He's happy their and they adore him, so all is
well.
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Today we drove about 45 minutes south of Lima to an events center near the beach for the Rotaract Conference. Rotaract is for 19-30 year olds who are on the path to becoming Rotarians. About 15 of the 40 or so clubs in the Lima District have corresponding Rotaract groups. It was exciting to see so many young people involved in humanitarian projects, and to see the camaraderie between clubs. We were at the conference only briefly, but were able to take part in their closing awards ceremony and their goodbye lunch. Nicole got to go swimming in the beautiful pool at the center.
It is Monday and we start our
third week in the GSE program. We've heard this is when
things get difficult (exhaustion, burn out, etc.), but many
of us have found a second wind and are excited for what else
is in store.
The Rotary Club of Lince showed
us around today. We first went to a small bakery near the
center of Lima. The bakery was started by a Catholic brother
and is supported by the Rotary Club. There are 15 young men
who work there, all under 30 years old, and all have come
from a home for neglected, abandoned, and orphaned children.
They are trained in the baking profession and now work in
the bakery. 6000 pieces of bread are baked per week and
brought to the area south of Lima that suffered extreme
earthquake damage last August. The young men say that since
they were helped out and supported when they had few
resources of their own, they want to give something back to
the community, and this is one way of doing that. The bakery
is supported by donations, including flour donated all the
way from Spain. We sampled dulce de leche filled croissants,
and alfajores (dulce de leche sandwich cookies). Yum!
The next project we visited was
a home for the elderly. It is the largest in Latin America,
with a capacity of 600 residents. Lima has about 33% of the
country's aging population. The men and women living here
come here because they have no more family or means to get
by. The mission of the organization is to find this
population and to take care of them. The staff believe in
the three basic rights of the elderly: the right to health,
life, and dignity. Often the elderly are marginalized and
left without opportunities to make their own living. Here at
the home, they have opportunities to participate in a
variety of activities and workshops and contribute something
back to the community. For example, there is a handicrafts
workshop where the goods are sold and individuals are given
a cut of the profit. A choir sang to us a couple lively
numbers, and a love ballad was performed by one man with an
amazing operatic voice. In general, people prefer not to go
live in a nursing home, but this one is considered as an
oasis because it has everything the community lacks where
many of these people had been living previously. The home's
budget only covers 50% of its necessities. The Rotary stays
active by contributing donations of clothing and supplies.
Currently the psychiatric unit uses 30-40% of the total
budget on medications for its residents. The organization is
working on remodeling projects such as increasing the size
of bathrooms (to meet the needs of handicapped residents),
installing guard rails for beds, and putting in air
conditioning. It is a beautiful complex of individual
apartment buildings and a main building with a courtyard and
open-air atmosphere. The gardens are green and lush, and the
rooms are brightly lit by natural daylight. We were given a
thorough tour of all the units and were greeted warmly by
staff and residents. One resident gave us a greeting in his
native Quechua: The orphan bird flies with no place to go.
It has to weep in order to fly. He followed this greeting
with a song in a haunting voice that almost seemed like it
came from another person.
Next was a visit to the Iglesia
y Convento San Francisco in central Lima. It is a Franciscan
sanctuary built in 1675 in colonial architecture. The
building is adorned with colorful Spanish tile, intricate
woodwork, iconic paintings, and statues of saints.
Beneath the building are catacombs, which held between
15,000 - 20,000 bodies. It is called catacombs after the
ones in Rome, but the function was as a cemetery rather than
catacombs. The people of colonial Lima believed that if they
were buried beneath a church, they would be closer to
heaven. Eventually, in the 19th century, the catacombs were
closed from allowing any more bodies to be buried there and
Lima's first cemetery was established.
We had a delicious lunch at the
home of Nerida, RC Lince's club president. Pisco sours and
causa, now officially Kay's favorite dish. It is delicious
mashed potato wrapped around a chicken or fish salad and
topped with sauce. We also had a dessert new to all of us
called tres leches. Heaven on earth, let me tell you.
Nerida's son, Marco, is also a memebr of the Lince club, and
he joined us for lunch. He is married to a Japanese-Peruvian
woman so we got to learn a little about the Japanese
population in Peru. Marco and his wife have school-aged
children who attend a school in which they study in
Japanese, Italian, and English in addition to Spanish!
The afternoon was relaxed and
much enjoyed by all. The women perused the stalls of the
Mercado del Indios. Lots of alpaca knit and woven goods,
jewelry, wood and leather items. Osho opted to hang out with
a book in a cafe. The evening's Rotary meeting was at a
Chifa restaurant.
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Dear Laverne
Thanks for the magnificent work you and district have done to
make this exchange a wonderful one.
Your team is having a great time and has made a lot of friends.
I am sending a couple of pictures of them
This weekend they are going to be with us at our district
conference that will be held at a beach resort close to Lima, so
they will be able to try how nice are the waters of the south
pacific ocean.
We will keep in touch
Regards
Juan Arbocco
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Rotary Club San Isidro Este took us around today. We went first to a school, El Colegio Panamericana, which is a private school in the district of Callao. About 1000 students attend at the picturesque campus run out of a historic german house. The school is recognized for its award-winning marching band, which we had the pleasure of watching perform a complex routine complete with choreography. Although it is a private school and students pay tuition (about $300 per year), most of the kids come from low-income homes. We then went to an old military fort built strategically on the water and used during the Chilean-Peruvian war in 1879. The fort includes a museum with exhibits about the history of Peru's military. From the watch tower we had a fabulous view of the Callao harbor and the city landscape surrounding it. Also at the fort we had a delicious seafood lunch of fried lenguado. After lunch we visited a t-shirt factory, which is run by one of the RC San Isidro's members. The owner gave us an extensive tour of the factory and showed us all the steps that go into making a shirt, from making high quality cotton fabric, to sewing on buttons. We learned that Peru has the second finest cotton in the world (after Egypt) and got to see and feel a variety of cotton fabrics and learn what types of shirts each was used for. At the end, we each took home a t-shirt that was just made especially for us. |
Today we started out in the district of Callao, which is a ways from central Lima. Members of Rotary Club San Borja Sur took us to visit a project they are supporting in the area of Pachacutec. This area north of Lima has 22 settlements and a population of 34,000. It's estimated that 10 new families come to the area each week. An average of 10-15 people reside in each of the small homes. There is no employment in the area itself, but people have moved there from the provinces at an increasing rate in order to be closer to Lima to find work. Because of the long distance to the city, people are often gone from before dawn until midnight. With parents gone to work for so many hours, there is a high rate of delinquency and now even gang activity amongst the youth. We learned about the migrations from the province to the outskirts of Lima. Osho had asked the question of why would people leave their homes in the picturesque jungle and mountains (where people have lived successfully for thousands of years) to come to the city and live in seemingly worse conditions. One priest answered by describing the effect of terrorism on the provinces, that it completely changed the way of life to the point where people could no longer make a living in the same ways. For example, the introduction of cocaine crops changed the landscape and resources in some areas. In addition, people are seeking services (such as medical) which are more easily found in the Lima area. The governments in many of the provinces still do not provide outreach or human services, so people have to travel far in order to meet basic needs. A small group of nuns are living in Pachacutec and together with Franciscan priests have set up a soup kitchen for the people of the community. Every day they serve about 100 people, 60 of whom are children. It costs 3 soles (about $1.25) per month per child, and 2 soles per adult to receive two meals a day. When we visited, people were being served fish soup and rice and beans. The food is fortified to increase its nutritional value, which addresses the 33% of children in the community who suffer from anemia. We visited the Polyclinico Emmanuel, which was started by Father Manuel Kato, a Japanese-Peruvian priest. The clinic serves low-income people in the community who cannot afford medical care. The Rotary Club has donated several pieces of equipment to the clinic such as opthamology and dental equipment. The clinic also has a "mechanical cow" which is a machine that produces soy milk. The process of making the milk from beans creates soy flour which is used to make baked goods. The mechanical cow has helped get milk and soy products to the community, enriching people's diets. Father Kato also founded an orphanage as well as a home for the elderly, both of which we visited. The kids in the orphanage each greeted us one by one with a handshake and a kiss on the cheek, then sang us a welcom song. In return, we taught them "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes." Currently there are about 45 kids living at the orphanage. Many of the children arrive there because their parents do not have the means to care for them. The facility is cheerful, with open-air hallways and flowers growing in courtyards. The home for the elderly was similar in style, and even included a few sheep grazing in a small grassy area surrounded by flowers. The residents were having their regular choir practice when we arrived. Both the orphanage and the home for the elderly are supported by kind volunteers who give so much of their time to work with the residents. It was amazing to see all the work that has blossomed out of Father Kato's vision.
This year's District 4450 conference was held in Ancon, at a seaside resort an hour north of Lima. There were a couple hundred attendees from all the Rotary clubs in the district. Our team greatly appreciated the weekend away from the city, and we were lucky to encounter sunshine. People have told us this summer is unusually extended, and that typically the autumn clouds and grey would have set in by now. We stayed in suites overlooking the ocean cove. The resort is built into the side of steep desert hills and faces west towards a lighthouse on an isle. There's a walkway which we took out across the water to the lighthouse, and discovered a variety of birds hanging out, not at all surprised to see humans. The pelicans were enormous. We watched the sun sink into the Pacific, wondering how it was possible we could be so lucky to end up in such a beautiful place. We had time on Saturday to hike along the trails around the resort and discovered another cove with fishermen bringing in their catch with huge nets. Friday night was the ceremony to kick off the conference. Flags from all the district clubs were presented. The Rotary choir sang the national anthem of Peru, and then the Star Spangled Banner. The members of our team joined them, realizing the lyrics of our national anthem are always buried in the recesses of our memory, ready to recall at a moment's notice. After the ceremony, there was a welcome dinner and a talent show. Several Rotarians participated, singing beautiful songs. Nicole and Elisabeth sang "Across the Universe" by the Beatles, accompanied on the guitar by a member of the Lima Sunrise club. On Saturday there were various talks to attend. One in particular was given by an economist from Germany who spoke about the Peruvian economy. He discussed how it has been influenced by the US dollar and how the weakening dollar has affected the Peruvian currency, the nuevo sol. Kay noted that it was an interesting feeling to be an American in the room at that moment because Peruvian attitudes towards the dollar are quite different than how Americans perceive the economic situation regarding the dollar. Saturday night was the grand gala dinner. Rotarians really know how to dress sharp. Many of the women wore evening gowns with sequins. A bottle of wine and a bottle of Johnny Walker were placed on each table. After dinner, the live band played and we danced to salsa, cumbia, merengue, and tango until quite late. It really felt like a celebration because after three weeks of visiting Rotary clubs, we got to see again so many of the kind people we had met so far. Sunday morning, our team gave a presentation to the attendees of the conference. Up until now, our presentation had consisted of information about our individual lives as well as overviews of various aspects of Seattle. But today we each spoke about our experiences in Peru, and how we each have been impacted by what we have done and seen. Kay presented a gift to the District Governor, Sonia de Uribe, on behalf of our District Governor, Don Gregory. The farewell lunch was festive and included traditional dance performances.
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Today was a free day for all. Nicole and Osho both stayed in Lima to catch up on sleep and hang out in the relaxed neighborhood of Miraflores, which is full of eateries and shops. Nicole sampled the traditional Peruvian breakfast of chocolate and churros, and found her new favorite cafe where she plans to spend more of her free time while in Lima. She also met up with Kay, Amy, and Elisabeth later in the evening for their second visit to Pizza Street. Kay, Amy, and Elisabeth did not catch up on sleep. After finishing with Wednesday night's Rotary club meeting, the three stayed over at Amy's and slept only two hours because they had to wake up to catch the bus to Paracas at 3am. The bus ride to Paracas is four hours along the coastal road south from Lima. The bus made many stops along the way, picking up passengers who seemed to come out of nowhere, standing on the side of the road in the sand of the desert. Paracas is a small town that is the launching point for boat tours going out to las Islas Ballestas, fondly known as the "poor man's Galapagos". As soon as we arrived in the town, we boarded a motor boat which whisked us out to the islands. Along the way, we passed a formation in the bluff that rose up from the water. It's called the candelabra and is a mysterious figure in the sand. No one knows how it got there but it has remained in tact for as long as anyone can remember because it never rains, so there has been very little erosion to the formation. From the boat, we saw millions of birds: three types of cormorants, red legged terns, humboldt penguins, pelicans, and a variety of seagulls. The birds covered the rocky islands like black blankets against the white facade created by all the guano. There were also several sea lions sunning themselves on rocks, plus starfish and anenomes clinging to the rocks. The most special sighting of all was a group of four dolphins which swam alongside our boat. They were so close we could hear their breathing when they came up for air. After the boat tour we went to the Paracas Reserve, a few kilometers south of the town. It is a vast expanse of golden sand where nothing grows, and is one of the driest places on earth. The desert plunges dramatically into the ocean and the colors of yellow against blue are stunning. We saw cracks in the ground from last year's earthquake, a red beach, and learned about the animals that live in the desert (foxes, bats, lizards). The area of the reserve used to be a bay millions of years ago and today you can find evidence of the sea. While we were there our guide picked out a fossilized shark tooth. Sadly, the Paracas Reserve has been difficult to protect because it is so large and there is no staff to monitor human activity. We saw tracks made by dunebuggies and motorcross. Last year's earthquake brought a tsunami which covered part of the desert with sea water, creating a temporary lagoon. Several boats were washed into the desert and when the water subsided, the boats remained, leaving abandoned ghost boats in the sand. The coastline in the Paracas area, and also the Islas Ballestas, is characterized by arches in the rocks. There had been one particular arch called "the cathedral" that no longer was there since it was destroyed by the earthquake last August. On our way back to Lima, we drove through the town of Pisco to see the earthquake damage. It was shocking to see that after almost 9 months, the town still looks as if the earthquake had just hit. Our guide took us down a few different streets to show us what typical houses looked like before the earthquake, and then down streets to show us the rubble, and the conditions people are now living in in the aftermath of the destruction: tents, cardboard homes, half-standing homes, wood-paneled modular homes. 80% of the town suffered earthquake damage. Many residents had to leave in order to find homes/work elsewhere. Our guide drove past several empty lots telling us what used to be there -- a bank, travel agencies, stores. And we saw the remains of the cathedral in the main plaza, only the two bell towers still standing with a gap between where the church itself used to be. We learned about how it took three days before any aid arrived, that people did not have access to food or the outside world because the roads out of town had been damaged. Our guide said that aid came more quickly from the people themselves than from the government. He himself spent the first month providing what help he could, and that in a way it was therapeutic because it kept him occupied and his mind off the fact of the devastation. |
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